Central's Zickfield selected 2008 Southeast Missourian Player of the Year

Central's Wendi Zickfield refused to use anything but the 10-foot hoop when practicing basketball as a second-grader inside the Trinity Lutheran school gym.

"When she started off, she couldn't shoot it up to the goal," her father, Kent Zickfield, said. "She was too small, but she wasn't going to shoot on the short goal. She was going to, by gosh, score on the big goal. She wouldn't shoot on the one that was pulled down low."

Zickfield, now a 6-foot-2 junior at Central, is this year's Southeast Missourian Player of the Year.

She has come a long way since her early elementary school days. She averaged 16.4 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game in 25 contests this season for the Tigers.

Zickfield, also named a member of the All-Southeast Missourian volleyball team last fall, has made both basketball and volleyball a big part of her life.

She plays both sports almost year-round, competing in AAU basketball and club volleyball in addition to her participation at Central.

She has traveled around the region and competed in national tournaments while also garnering some interest from college basketball and volleyball programs.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com Central's Wendi Zickfield pulled down a rebound during a game against Jackson. Zickfield averaged 16.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game this past season.

She received recruitment letters from basketball programs at schools including Missouri, Mississippi and Wichita State, and volleyball programs at Murray State and Truman State.

"She works hard," Kent said. "She goes all year round. ... She was blessed to be born with size. There is no getting around it. But just size isn't enough. You have to work hard, and I give her credit. She has put in the effort and extra time. All we do is travel with teams. We don't have vacations and things like that. Her athletic career is pretty much our life right now. We're in Atlanta, we're in Houston, we're in St. Louis. We're all over the place playing."

Where it began

Zickfield has been playing basketball most of her life. Volleyball, on the other hand, she started becoming serious about recently.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com Central's Wendi Zickfield shot over Charleston's Tariah Simpson (50) and Chelsie Lane in the second quarter Dec. 10, 2007 at Central High School.

Her passion for basketball grew from watching her older brother William play at Trinity Lutheran and later at Central.

"[Going to his games] was my favorite thing to do," she said. "Any time he had a game, I was like, 'Hey, let's go watch him play.' It was fun for me to watch him. I learned from him, and he always practiced with me and he was always better than me. That just made me that much of a better player. He would push me and try to make me tough."

Kent said he helped coach his son's team at Trinity Lutheran, and during practices Wendi would be close by shooting hoops.

"He was in the fifth grade and she was in the second," Kent said. "And all through fifth, sixth and seventh grades, if he was out there practicing, then she wanted to be out there on that court, too. If we were practicing on one end, she'd be shooting on the other end."

It was not long before Wendi began playing for Trinity Lutheran, and she scored 1,000 points while playing in the parochial school league.

A strong season

Zickfield likely will score more than 1,000 points in her Central career, too.

She is just 35 points from reaching the milestone after compiling 411 points as a junior.

In addition to her strong scoring and rebounding averages, Zickfield shot 52 percent from the field, 74 percent from the free-throw line and blocked 51 shots.

She was able to achieve these numbers despite hurting her neck in a game against Jackson during the Saint Francis Medical Center Holiday Classic at the Show Me Center. She spent most of the season in pain following the injury. She aggravated some tendons and nerves, but only missed one game.

"Ever since I started getting injuries, I've never really sat down from it," she said. "It's been too hard to just watch for me. And I hate sitting out of a game and watching it. I just don't like it. So I just told myself I can do it. Then after the game worry about it rather than during the game."

Her best overall performance this season was when she scored 30 points against Farmington.

"Those girls are awesome," she said of the Farmington squad. "I play with all of them on my volleyball team. They're awesome, and I scored 30 points against them. So it was good to feel that and to be like, 'Wow, this is a really good team I played against.'"

Three passions

Zickfield said she feels most people think of her as an athlete who focuses on basketball and volleyball and does not do much else.

But there's a whole other side people don't know.

"A big thing people don't know about me is I'm honestly a country girl," she said. "If I'm not playing sports, I'm at my farm riding my horses. I ride all the time. ... If I'm not playing sports, I'm out with my horses and my friends."

Zickfield owns a horse, Liberty, a name given to it because it was born on the Fourth of July.

She likes to ride on the weekends. She added that she rides even during the high school sports season when she probably should not because of the risk of injury.

Whether playing basketball, volleyball, riding or something else, Zickfield likes to remain active.

"I get bored easily, and I just have to be out doing something," she said. "Whether it's sports, working out or walking around, I'm always doing something at least. I'm never sitting around."